Consistenly Inconsistent or Inconsistently Consistent, I am not sure which!

It is not every day that a fisherman brings home the BIG one. In fact, if my own experience means anything, it is rare that the big one is EVER brought home. I call myself a fisherman, because I fish: not because I catch fish, but rather put forth the effort to catch fish. It is not inconsistent that I say "I am a fisherman" as long as the understanding is: my goal is to catch fish and not just fish for fish. (is this sounding fishy?)

At any rate, I say "I am a Christian" and many times I act like I am not. Either in my words, or my deeds, and secretly, in my thoughts I reveal that I am not all that I say that I am.

If there is anything I want to be "consistent" about, it is my faith. Not just my inward faith, but the walking out of my faith. What I am called to do, to be, to embody as a believer is more than meets the eye. Jesus said something to his disciples that should make us consider:

Mar 1:17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

It is not until we follow after Him that we will be made fishers of men. The times I find myself most inconsistent, is when I am following hard after ME. When my flesh is being satisfied, I am being most inconsistent with the faith I say I embrace.

A call to repentance is before me as I examine my own following of the Lord that saved me. Am I inconsistent in the consistency I am called to? Or am I consistently being inconsistent? If the latter is the case, I must ask am I truly following after Christ?

Let the life of a believer be such that no one doubts that he is consistent in his faith, even though from time to time he may appear to be inconsistent. Let him fall, but let him get up seven times. Just because he loads the boat, and spends hours on the lake, and returns with no fish today, is no reason to say he is no fisherman.

But let not his life be one of consistently failing to load the boat and head to the lake. If this is the case, his constant failing to do the work of a fisherman reveals, "He is no fisherman at all."

Lord, make us fishers of men, as we follow hard after you.

Years Spent in Vanity and Pride...

Dwight Moody believed a college dedicated to teaching Bible truth was critical. It was D.L. Moody who realized the importance of raising up the next generation to carry the gospel and thus founded this school. Moody chose his friend and co-worker, Dr. R.A. Torrey to be the first president of the Institute. In 1905, Dr. Torrey shared a story about a rebellious teenager who eventually became the inspiration for the writing of that grand old hymn, At Calvary. The story goes like this:

When I was president of the Moody Bible Institute, I received a letter from a very concerned pastor who told me of a son who was causing himself and his family a great deal of trouble. His life was really mixed

And the father felt that attendance at Moody would help. I advised the father that even though I sympathized with him, for I was a father; yet, because I was running a Bible school and not a reform school, I had to deny his request. After many letters of pleading his cause, I finally gave in with the stipulation that the rebellious teen must see me each day and make every effort to abide by the rules and requirements of the Institute.

Torrey went on to say that the boy faithfully visited his office each day; and with wisdom from God’s word, he answered the questions that had been keeping the boy from God. Finally, after many months of counseling, the prayers of the boy’s father were answered when young William R. Newell received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.

Thirty years later, as a teacher at Moody, Mr. Newell was recounting those turbulent years as a rebellious teen; and as he was rejoicing in his salvation, the words of a poem flooded his mind. His mind was filled with a word picture of what had happened in his life and also in the lives of all those who surrender to Christ. The new man in Christ could now write:

Years I spent in vanity and pride

Caring not my Lord was crucified

Knowing not it was for me He died

On Calvary

O the love that drew salvation’s plan

O the grace that brought it down to man

O the mighty gulf that God did span

At Calvary

The world's accolades...

"The world pays scantily indeed. What will it do for those it loves best? When it has done all it can, the last resource of the world is to give a man a title and what is that? And then to give him a tall pillar and set him up there to bear all weathers, to be pitilessly exposed to every storm; and there he stands for fools to gaze at..." Charles Spurgeon

Let us be careful of desiring accolades from the world. The best they can give is not near the least that God can render to man. Our hopes and treasures should be laid up somewhere else, other than here. Once we amass all we can, stand back and look at it and count it as ash. For dear one, it shall be ash on that great day. The only thing that will survive will be what was done for Christ.
May God be glorified. Soli Deo Gloria

Preaching, Muller Style

When one thinks of preaching, George Muller might not be the first on your list. He admitted he was not so grand a preacher. Those who heard him agreed with him. However, one could not escape the fact that it was evident the man had spent time with God. However simple his messages may have been, they appeared to be filled with power from God. His suggestions on preaching is timeless and very profitable for all who desire to preach, or to understand the preacher. So it is good for everyone. Notice the following from his works:

"That which I have found most beneficial in the public ministry of the Word, is expounding the Scriptures." He goes on to explain that "Expounding the Word of God brings little honour to the preacher from the unenlightened or careless hearer, but it tends much to the benefit of the hearers in general. Simplicity of expression, whilst the truth is set forth is of the utmost importance. It should be the aim of the teacher so to speak, that children, servants, and people who cannot read may be able to understand him, so far as the natural mind can comprehend the things of God."

Muller seemed more desirous that everyone under the sound of his voice might hear a clear trumpet call, rather than be impressed with lofty exhortations of grandeur. He was concerned for every hearer, hoping that when they walked away from his messages, they could take truth that was clearly understood.

When we preach today, we should desire to be a vessel meet for the Master's use, "fit to be employed both in the conversion of sinners and in the edification of the saints."

When Method matches the Message.

When Method Matches the Message


The pulpit was ablaze and one could almost feel the emotions being poured forth from the podium. Bible open, hand uplifted, the message was solid, the words were pure, and no man dared dispute him. When we attend conferences and revivalist meetings, often times we come away with more than a strengthened resolve and encouraged heart, we come away with a false sense of methodology. Here is how this works: The preacher preaches a strong line on the family, the importance of the Scriptures and loyalty to church. We see the size or we perceive that the size, of the ministry he is involved in to be large. One leaves believing that preacher is a family integrationist by the great importance he places on the family unit. He even says, "I am a husband first, a preacher last." That sounds so good, in fact we begin to repeat the mantra, (even though we may have not been living it out in our own lives.) That is the conundrum. When does our method match our message.


For what it is worth, I have committed to making sure the church I pastor does not fall into the trap of fluff. I know, one man's fluff is another man's ministry. What one preacher calls fluff, another calls "useful method". Whether it be preaching, music, bus ministries, awana clubs or basket weaving, we tend to spiritualize the acts and suggest that in and of themselves, they are fine, as long as the end justifies the means. "Hey, the fact of the matter is evident: we are trying to get people to come to church, right?" Wrong. We are trying to preach Christ and Him crucified. Those who come to church ought to be the ones who Christ has already called to himself. Only the Saved can worship in Spirit and Truth. Yes, the world can worship, no doubt. But they cannot enter into the holy of holies and worship the one true God. Without the Spirit of God, there is no true worship. Yet, we bend all we do in the church many times to accommodate those "without the Spirit." We put fluff in place to make them comfortable, and hope they stick around long enough to "get saved." The church no longer goes, but rather sends out invitations.


What am I wanting in Worship? I am wanting what God wants in worship. Not what I want. If I got what I wanted, and if I were pleased with what I had, without regard to God's direct desires, I am only worshipping my own self-interests.


It is a hard thing for a preacher who loves to preach, to know that he could amp up the music just a bit, change the format to be a bit more man centered, and provide a few more "community based" activities to draw in a crowd. "Hey, I have never stopped preaching the same message!" But when, dear preacher, does the "Method match the Message". If you say you love families, why do you divide them? If you say you love the Word, why does it get supplanted by the emotionalism of the music ministry? If you say that Preaching is the primary activity in a church, why then is the pulpit secondary, or even further down the list of what is promoted in the church? Because we know, the lost world will not say, "Hey, I hear that they have a great pulpit ministry down there at Emmanuel, lets go check it out!"


Dr. Bruce Bickel states in his book Light and Heat"With the increase of communication equipment and an emphasis on communication skills, Bible studies, small groups and sharing are increasingly sought as the route to revitalizing the church, while faith in the pulpit fades and grows dim. Consequently, more emphasis is being placed on methodology and less on the message." Again, When does the Method match the Message? The answer is clear, "When it brings people in, and not before."


So, preachers fill their pulpits each week and proclaim, "I will not compromise the message from this pulpit, you can boot me out, but I am standing on the word!" The congregation shouts "AMEN!, but don't you dare allow your message to affect the methodology we practice here." The message, some suppose belongs in the pulpit, along with the messenger, but the method belongs to us, the people, "Why, that is the whole reason we are here!" I know Emmanuel has not arrived, but I want to be on the correct train, heading in the right direction.


Let us have a strong defense of the Word of God, but let us be careful not to diminish that with a low esteem of the message. We show a disregard and low esteem of the message, when it does not translate from out of the pulpit, to the methods practiced in the church. Crowds or not.

“Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?”

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon 1834-1892
An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it during the past few years. It has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.
From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.
My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church. If it is a Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it? "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). That is clear enough So it would have been if He had added, "and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel." No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to him.
Then again, "He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers .., for the work of the ministry" (Eph. 4:11-12). Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.
Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles. What was the attitude of the church to the world? Ye are the salt" (Matt. 5:13), not the sugar candy---something the world will spit out not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance, "Let the dead bury their dead" (Matt. 8:22) He was in awful earnestness.
Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear him say, "Run after these people Peter and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow." Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.
In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of this gospel of amusement! Their message is, "Come out, keep out, keep clean out!" Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.